Iranian Intelligence agents have developed a pattern of targeting the local family members of political dissidents and journalists who live outside of Iran. Most recently, Iranian Intelligence Ministry agents have redoubled their harassment of BBC Persian employees’ families over the last two weeks, pressuring them to ask their relatives to stop working for the BBC, according to the director of BBC Persian Sadeq Saba.

This new wave of harassment against BBC Persian reporters follows the same pattern of arrests and official intimidation the Campaign has documented previously, most recently in the lead-up to the Parliamentary elections in March 2012. This pattern includes the harassment of arrested journalists’ families, interrogation techniques aimed at extracting forced confessions, and targeting those who have any connections—perceived or real—to BBC Persian.